Co-designing learning analytics tools with learners

There is an increasing interest in the use of learning analytics by individual educators and also at different institutional levels. However, problems such as low satisfaction, steep learning curves, misalignment and other barriers to adoption have already been reported. From a learner-centred design perspective, these problems can, to a certain extent, be explained in terms of the lack of involvement of learners and educators in the design of the tools that are intended to support their learning and/or teaching. Based on co-design principles, we explore the critical role of giving voice to learners and their teachers – stakeholders who are often neglected but who will ultimately be the main beneficiaries (or otherwise) of learning analytics tools. This chapter discusses a set of co-design tools and techniques that can be put into practice to increase the likelihood of successful deployment of learning analytics into classrooms, institutions and learning spaces. This chapter presents: a) an overview of how Design Thinking may help in the co-design process of learning analytics; b) a brief review of the current literature exploring co-design for education and learning analytics; and c) illustrative examples, from our firsthand empirical work, focused on co-designing learning analytics tools with learners.